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Some Books from Before the Trip
Mar. 25th, 2022 06:52 amAfter a trip I always end up with some errant book reviews of books that I read before gallivanting off. My hold on Rosemary Mosco’s A Pocket Guide to Pigeon Watching: Getting to Know the World’s Most Misunderstood Bird arrived just before I went to New York City. I think we can all agree is the perfect time to get a book about pigeons, and it really gave a new dimension of pleasure to the trip, because every flock becomes an opportunity to admire the many variations of pigeons: piebald pigeons, brown pigeons (rare because recessive), pigeons with feathers on their feet.
I also read Jack London’s The Road, partly as last-minute research for Tramps and Vagabonds (although London rode the rails in the 1890s - a very different time than the 1930s), although I may have accidentally ended up with another book. London mentions chasing across the continent after a tramp he had never met, purely because he was so intrigued by the man’s water-tower signature “Skysail Jack,” and look, doesn’t that sound like the beginning of a romance novel? And isn’t Skysail Jack the perfect name for a romance novel? Couldn’t I build up a line of tramp romances?
Maybe I had better see how Tramps and Vagabonds does before I get any ideas on that line. I don’t think it’s a niche anyone else has claimed, but maybe that’s because no one wants to read it.
Finally, Helen Dawes Brown’s 1886 Two College Girls tells the tale of unlikely roommates Rosamund and Edna, a light-hearted madcap and a cranky bookworm, respectively. (The madcap is a 19th century heroine type I don’t see very often in modern-day books. We should bring her back! She’s so much fun! Here’s a representative quote from Rosamund: “I always did maintain that punctuation hindered a free play of intellect - I think best in dashes.”)
Both girls are initially horrified to find themselves stuck with someone so opposite to themselves, but eventually they become good friends and good influences on each other. Rosamund realizes that she can’t have fun all the time (and in the process discovers an unexpected ambition to be a doctor); Edna realizes that people who don’t share her narrow range of bookish interests can still be worthwhile, and the resulting increase in sympathy and broadmindedness make her both a happier person and a more thoughtful student.
The book mostly focuses on the two girls and sundry classmates, although it ends (of course) with Edna’s engagement to Rosamund’s brother right after graduation. The attitude toward marriage is interesting: I noted down this quote from Rosamund (the most quotable person in the book), who says, “If I ever marry, - and I hope I shall - it may be a shameless confession, but I - hope - I - shall, - it will be the man of all the world that believes most in me; will help me best to be a useful woman; will put new heart and courage in everything I do.”
Girls are supposed to grow up and get married - but it’s immodest to admit they want to.
I also read Jack London’s The Road, partly as last-minute research for Tramps and Vagabonds (although London rode the rails in the 1890s - a very different time than the 1930s), although I may have accidentally ended up with another book. London mentions chasing across the continent after a tramp he had never met, purely because he was so intrigued by the man’s water-tower signature “Skysail Jack,” and look, doesn’t that sound like the beginning of a romance novel? And isn’t Skysail Jack the perfect name for a romance novel? Couldn’t I build up a line of tramp romances?
Maybe I had better see how Tramps and Vagabonds does before I get any ideas on that line. I don’t think it’s a niche anyone else has claimed, but maybe that’s because no one wants to read it.
Finally, Helen Dawes Brown’s 1886 Two College Girls tells the tale of unlikely roommates Rosamund and Edna, a light-hearted madcap and a cranky bookworm, respectively. (The madcap is a 19th century heroine type I don’t see very often in modern-day books. We should bring her back! She’s so much fun! Here’s a representative quote from Rosamund: “I always did maintain that punctuation hindered a free play of intellect - I think best in dashes.”)
Both girls are initially horrified to find themselves stuck with someone so opposite to themselves, but eventually they become good friends and good influences on each other. Rosamund realizes that she can’t have fun all the time (and in the process discovers an unexpected ambition to be a doctor); Edna realizes that people who don’t share her narrow range of bookish interests can still be worthwhile, and the resulting increase in sympathy and broadmindedness make her both a happier person and a more thoughtful student.
The book mostly focuses on the two girls and sundry classmates, although it ends (of course) with Edna’s engagement to Rosamund’s brother right after graduation. The attitude toward marriage is interesting: I noted down this quote from Rosamund (the most quotable person in the book), who says, “If I ever marry, - and I hope I shall - it may be a shameless confession, but I - hope - I - shall, - it will be the man of all the world that believes most in me; will help me best to be a useful woman; will put new heart and courage in everything I do.”
Girls are supposed to grow up and get married - but it’s immodest to admit they want to.
